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Our neighbor is a Dean at a local college.......she use to be a Professor there. She is the same as me (62) and when I asked her about retirement, she told me "not right now or anytime soon". Have another neighbor that retired (SS/Early Retirement) last year and she told me "I love it". I felt REALLYGOOD about what she said, because I'm on the same retirement now and feel the same way!
In all honesty, I truely believe some young people really feel jealous (inside) when talking to a Baby Boomer who is now retired. They think to themselves "I don't even want to think about or know how many more years of work I have to go thru!". I also believe some people get really, really jealous when they talk to someone in their early 50's (or even younger) who is retired!
But, what to say to people who are not retired, simple......."I love being retired for numerous reasons and a big one is that I can sleep-in every single morning if I want to!" If someone was to ask me "so what do you do to keep yourself busy", I'd (jokingly) say "Love to rock and roll and party every day!" That would either make somebody smile or give a curious/stunned look!
This morning I told someone that the morning commute was a bear for my wife. They said, "Oh that's too bad." I said, "Yeah, must have been pretty wet out because her hair was soaked by the time she got from the bedroom to the dining room deck."
This morning I told someone that the morning commute was a bear for my wife. They said, "Oh that's too bad." I said, "Yeah, must have been pretty wet out because her hair was soaked by the time she got from the bedroom to the dining room deck."
I think people need to realize you are having fun with what is becoming old. By that I mean the resentment and envy by those not retired at your new lifestyle of freedom. I understand. They don't want to hear that I am spending the Spring-Fall mostly at the beach. On the other hand most people only see you at work or in activity related environments. They might not have a good handle of you in relaxation/chill mode to be able to see you in full time retirement. Remember it is about them and how they see the world and you in it that they are reacting to.
There's no reason to feel threatened by the question. It is simply a conversation starter like,
'what do you do for a living?' -- except, if one is retired, the work questions become irrelevant. If one chooses to spend their retirement sitting on the couch and watching television, then retirement certainly affords that opportunity.
I think some pre-retirement folks ask the question because they are trying to picture themselves in a situation where they really don't have to do anything they don't want to do. (Of course, these days, many are having difficulty imagining ever being retired ... with the state of the economy and debt picture).
My standard line which is usually greeted by more questions and a tad of expecting more from me. I have had conversations with folks who had not yet retired prepping them and follow up discussion after they retired and it is all the same. The need something to hang their hat on when you answer them. 24/7 free time is alien to them.
I've decided that, FOR ME, its important for me to tell people stuff, who are not retired.
40 years ago when I graduated under grad college, I visited my then fiancee who was governessing in Martha's Vineyard. The people she was working for had little kids and the were rtenting the Froelicher House in West Chop, across the street from the Gilette's(razor blade fortune) and others of similiar mega money of 1971. I discovered early on that it was simply not kosher to say, in this crowd, that I was looking for a job. So I said, when asked by one of the Gilettes, about what I was doing since I left college, "...I'm looking for something BIG." This resulted in a response similar to this:
"Yeah... my son graduated five years ago and nothing really big enough has come up yet."
Soooo.... People who are still working, usually quite some distance in time from retirement, ASK what I am doing with myself to "keep busy". I was never interested in busy work, so I've been saying, "Not a dam thing." This usually results in quizzical looks or grimaces, as if I'm a waste to society if I'm not "keeping busy."
So I've decided to use something on my bucket list instead.
Today I said, "Well... right now, I'm learning video editing and becoming a Celtic Fiddler."
I now got.... "Ooo-Kay!!" Not a lot of comprehension, but apparently it seems that it must be useful if they really don't know what is entailed, and the busyness is pretty much beyond the asker.
been in this same situation for 4 years now. I also said "not a damn thing," which isn't completely true (as I read, work in the yard, travel a bit) but basically I've noticed the same quizzical, unimpressed response. In our culture these days you're supposed to have a "passion," something that gets you out of bed in the morning, yadda, yadda. Basically I retired because I had enough money to do so and really hated the commute to work. I envy those who have jobs they love. Probably wouldn't have retired if this had been the case. So, I'm taking a little time to find my true purpose in retirement.
Tell people that you are having the time of your life, doing what you always wanted to do, but didn't have time for when you were younger. Some people may be jealous, but that's THEIR problem.
... I envy those who have jobs they love. Probably wouldn't have retired if this had been the case. .....
I did have one of those jobs.....
For more than 30 years I worked as an elementary school counselor in a public school system(I worked 40 years total including 7 years in private school mental health services). But I was done in by changes wrought by the No Child Left Behind law. With the incredible emphasis on Reading and Math, I was no longer able to provide on-going interaction IN classrooms with such topics as conflict resolution, feelings awareness, social behavior training, etc. I could no longer have small groups on divorce, peer interraction, etc. And I was even having difficulty getting teachers to release kids for individual counseling except during the kids lunch hours---which was their only time left for socialization since they took away their recess to teach more math and reading.
When you add to that that the level of special education has increased by 10% every year since NCLB kicked in, and the massive amount of accountability paperwork that that generated and there being no one in the school to do that except for the school counselor, and then the management of the standardized tests that determine if the children are making it in the NCLB law, that took me out of the mix for literally 2 months in the spring, my job became a very highly paid piece of office drudgery and endless meetings, punctuated by dangerous dealings with the emotional support kids in one of my schools. Additionally the conseuences for losing a test out of the many hundreds that I had to account for, but which I have little control after they left my office, and the terrible consequences for some screw-up in it beyond my control, I used to have to take anti-acid medication every day for the 2 months that I had possession of the tests.
Helping kids was my job; it turned into a paperwork nightmare when I would go for a week and never see any children except in the hall. At the end, I wasn't even able to see my 1st grade story groups for a lousy 15 minutes once a week because the teachers has no space in any day that they could give me.
If my job was the same as it had been from 1978 to 2001, I would have worked it until they kicked me out at age 70.
It doesn't matter to me what people think of me, as long as no one has hurt feelings. My answer would be, "whatever I feel like doing on any particular day."
I don't like to think i am retired and don't have a hobby to fill up my awake time. I just make things up to do profitable or not. build a house in the wood, become an unsuccessful land developer. work asn manual labor jobs here and there. may be i will growing fruits and vegetables on my land or what ever.
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